As I said, I’d decided that I was having a very fast stop at Honister
partly because I was getting interested in finishing time, but mostly that I
rather fancied hanging around for a while to say thank you to my wonderful
supporters. In retrospect, I should have advised my leg 5 supporters, Paul,
Adnan, Jenny and Craig, as they seemed a little unprepared as I had a quick
drink before declaring that I was off.
The slog up Dale Head was surprisingly straightforward, though the jam
sandwich I was trying to eat proved impossible and half was eventually
discarded. Clearly, “real” food was now a no go so it’d have to be gels, snakes
and the sports drink to keep me moving.
Soon enough, we were ticking off the last major climb of the round
inside schedule and I started to dream, was sub 23 now possible? Certainly if I
could hold my schedule I should be close. Halfway to Hindscarth, I had another
little wobble, and, after a couple of snakes and another talking to, I vowed to
keep taking this one bit at a time and we continued up to Hindscarth bang on
schedule.
Running down towards the final climb, Robinson, the reality that this
was going to happen hit home and I may have got a little grit in my eyes. After
I stopped being soft, we cruised up to the 42nd peak, and soon I was
at the top inside schedule. After allowing myself a little smile, posing for a
couple of pictures (including this special celery based one for Andy!) and
surveying the whole BG route in front of me (it looked a bloody long way!), it
was time to first get to the road and then to Keswick.
In good spirits, I started to jog off the summit plateau but after
about 100 meters I became aware of some serious pain brewing on the inside of
my legs. As ever I tried to ignore it, but the first time I needed to move
laterally I was suddenly at the edge of being sick with the pain. All of a
sudden, my straightforward victory jog to Keswick had become a rather more serious
affair. Still, at least the views were good.
Having struggled down the ridge from Robinson, I was, eventually, onto
High Snab Bank. At this point, I established that running in straight lines was
just about manageable, and came to the agreement with my support crew that I’d
try and run anything that I could in a straight line and pick through anything
laterally. This approach at least got me to the road, but it was now going to
be tight for time unless I got moving again.
After changing into my road shoes, we set off on the bit less than 5
miles to the Moot Hall. I don’t remember masses about this section, other than
(a) it hurt, (b) all of my landmarks on route seemed to take ages to arrive,
(c) my coaching advice of drive your arms back to make your legs move does seem
to work no matter how tired you are, and (d) it hurt.
Eventually, I reached the mini-horde that was waiting for me at the end
of the path along the Greta. Suitably cheered up, we turned on the road, over
the bridge, past the Saddleback (where I was planning to eat the menu the
following morning), and up to the island. At the island, I had a glance at the
watch and realised it was at least possible to go sub 23:30 if I got a wriggle
on.
Deciding that I wanted this done quickly, I took off at a rate that may
have shocked some of my support, took in a few more cheers as I ran up the high
street, had a little bit of pain related shouting and didn’t stop until I hit
that green door.
I looked down at my watch, it was 8:27.
23 hours and 27 minutes after I’d set off, it was done.
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Splits for interest (Scheduled times in brackets)
Dale Head 34 (35)
Hindscarth 18 (18)
Robinson 25 (25)
Keswick Moot Hall 115 (85)
